Corny Post About Being Thankful

A woman had been wandering around the bookstore for more than an hour, looking for books. I had helped her find different things twice, and the manager had also been looking things up for her. She came in as soon as we opened at eight.

When she finally get to the counter, I do the whole cash register rigmarole: find everything okay? have a discount card with us?"

And then: "Oh, I read this last week." Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen.

"Is it good? I don't want a page turner. I want something that I can put down."

"Uh." I turn the book over and read the back. "No, I was able to put it down."

"Good, I'm stressed and I don't need anything else keeping me on the edge of my seat."

"Christmas got you down?"

"Possible foreclosure. So I'm buying all these books." Little laugh.



I'm not going to lecture on what a bad idea it is to spend frivolously while having money problems. Instead, in that moment I was incredibly grateful:

1. I'm not in foreclosure
2. I am completely living within my means
3. I have a month's worth of expenses saved up in case I lose both my jobs
4. I don't possible have to find somewhere else to live (what a pain!)

Its so bad she's watching the news to see if they will temporarily halt foreclosures. I wished her good luck. Several times. And then stood around thinking about how despite having a retail job and low paying concierge job, I am lucky.